Bah to The National Photographic Portrait Prize…

So, I put in a couple of photos for the National Photographic Portrait Competition, but as the time you’d be notified if you’d made the final 60 has long since passed, I’m guessing I’m not gonna have my photo exhibited in the National Gallery in Canberra and I’m not in the running for the $25,000 first price. (Edit: The finalists are shown here – some really good stuff). I kinda knew the Tim Rogers one (taken at last year’s Valley Fiesta) wouldn’t get very far but as I’d gone to the effort of sorting it out that I would just enter it. I liked the photo but couldn’t get a crop of it that I was totally happy with.

But I really, really, really like the photo of Toby Dundas, drummer for The Temper Trap (taken at The Zoo in May when they were supporting Howling Bells). It’s one of my favourite photos that I’ve taken this year, so had high hopes for it… but guess it didn’t impress them.

Or maybe they just didn’t like my artist statement…

Through my photography I strive to produce strong, iconic images that stand out from the crowd and act as an antidote to the glossy throwaway concert photos that are celebrated by the modern mainstream media.

Whereas most music photographers will talk in clichés about endeavouring to capture “The Moment” – which generally relates to tired rock-star action poses – I have always approached my photography looking for something closer to “The Anti-Moment”.

This, to me, embodies an instance of simple elegance and breathtaking beauty, a single, fleeting point in time where the subject is caught in a period of stillness and reflection, isolated from the audience and the stage.

Guess there’s always next year…

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